In order to cover openings, e.g., in refrigerators, windows, sliding roofs for vehicles and the like, it is known that a roller blind, or similar web structure, can be guided within laterally parallel guides of the cover openings and which further provides a connection with the wall parts limiting the opening. A cover guide rail is usually provided for this in which the roller blind rod slides and guides the roller blind web following the roller blind rod. In the case of Venetian blinds, in which the roller blind web consists of individual, rigid strips, the closure of a window opening is on the whole satisfactory. However, these roller blind webs are massive and therefore require a corresponding spatial and financial cost. This type of roller blinds is not suitable for sliding roofs of vehicles nor useful as roller blinds for darkening rooms for presentations of films or photographs.
In order to darken rooms for the presentation of films or photographs, roller blind webs are used that consist of a thin, flexible material. The roller blind webs are lowered vertically in front of the window openings. In order to avoid the incidence of light, a broad cover strip is set on the edge in front of the window opening on which strip the roller blind web rests. This cover strip can also be designed to be double-sided, so that the roller blind web runs in a guide. This type of guidance requires a relatively large amount of space and necessitates that the flexible roller blind web hang down substantially vertically. Also, a tight guidance of the roller blind web is not assured and the incidence of light can not be completely avoided due to the required width of the guide slot.
With respect to closures for a refrigeration unit, it is important that the refrigerator be tightly closed to avoid an undesired exchange of air and therewith a loss of heat while at the same time permitting ready access to goods stored in a refrigerator. In locations and operating environments commonly found in schools, administrative offices and cafeterias, self-service refrigerators are used during breaks and at meals. At other times, the refrigerators should be closed to secure against product theft and to conserve energy.
In the case of vehicles, a stable guidance of the roller blind edges that resists wind pressure and similar influences is important.
Lateral guides for roller blinds or protective curtains are known that comprise a hollow seam or border on the roller blind web and which extend along an edge running vertically to the roll-down axis. The seam is held laterally in the rolled-down state by a rod element by which the hollow seam is pulled when the roller blind or protective curtain is rolled down. The rolled-down curtain is held substantially along the entire hollow seam on the rod element as seen in references DE 2 99 225 93 U1 and DE 19 609 082. The roller blind systems described in the cited references do achieve an obligatory and stable connection of the roller blind to the wall limiting the opening; however, the hollow seam for guiding the roller blind has a disadvantage in that the hollow-seam edge becomes bulky during rolling up and therefore increases the diameter of that portion of the blind relative to the rest of the roller blind web. As a result, the winding up not only requires a significant amount of space but also results in a non-uniform winding up and a subsequent distortion of the roller blind web. Moreover, the manufacture of such hollow seams requires additional manufacturing effort which renders the roller blind device more expensive.
The present invention therefore has the problem of eliminating these disadvantages and creating a roller blind system that assures a stable and obligatory connection of the roller blind to the wall limiting the opening to be closed but is yet simple and thus economical to manufacture. This problem is solved by a roller blind system for covering openings in a refrigerator, window, sliding vehicle roof, and similar openings in which a roller blind web comprises tubular pockets on its longitudinal sides, the pockets being engaged by a parallel guide arranged on opposite sides of the opening, the tubular pockets extending in a longitudinal direction along the roller blind web.
In one embodiment of the invention, the parallel guide further defines a hollow profile which is closed on one end opposite a reel of the roller blind by a cap, the cap further securing a terminus of the guide rod.
In addition, double layers of materials and seam junctures are avoided, so that the roller blind web exhibits a uniform thickness over the entire width including the edge area, as a result of which irregularities during rolling up and deformations are avoided.
If tubular pockets are worked into the material web over the width at certain intervals, roller blind webs with different widths can be manufactured in accordance with the grid of these tubing pockets without having to set a certain roller blind width during the manufacture already. This achieves great flexibility of adaptation to different, required roller blind widths and reduces inventory storage needs. The lateral guidance is established in a simple manner by a rod engaging into the tubing pocket so that voluminous boxes for a lateral guidance of the border edge of the roller blind are not necessary. As a result of the obligatory guidance a short engagement of the border edge of the roller blind into the lateral guide is sufficient. This is especially advantageous in vehicle construction.
Tolerances can be readily compensated and the roller blind web held under tension by the transverse mobility of the guide rod and by a fastening of the hollow profile that is elastic in the direction of movement of the roller blind.
Further details of the invention are described below with reference made to the drawings.